April 28, 2011 was a date to remember for students at Rickson Gracie academy and for Jiu-Jitsu as a whole. It was the last day of class at Rickson’s West Los Angeles headquarters.
The new academy is located in Culver City, California, but will be headed by Rickson’s son, Kron. Things at Rickson Gracie Academy wrapped up with a special class, with a number of friends and two-time absolute world champion Xande Ribeiro in attendance. Rickson spoke to his students by telephone from Rio de Janeiro.
Over the speaker phone, Rickson thanked his students for their devotion to Jiu-Jitsu and for having trained with him and Kron for years and even decades. The Gracie was also thankful for the solid support behind Kron right now.
“The pride I feel today is immeasurable, in seeing Kron take this big step and open his own academy. Soon I will be there training with you guys, we’ll be together every time I visit Los Angeles,” said Rickson at the emotional ceremony witnessed by our photographer John Lamonica.
Check out some of the highlights of the day, even including some of the first training sessions of Rickson’s grandson, Wheeler Gracie, yet another ace in the family.
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